The Houston Suburb Known As The Hill Country

Things we learned today: The Hill Country is a suburb of Houston. At least to Canadians.

The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, took note that Barack Obama was the first "urban" president in a long while.

They had to stretch things a bit, saying that JFK "made his primary home at the six-acre Kennedy Compound in small-town Hyannis, Mass.," even though he's thought of pretty much as a Boston guy.

They tried to make their point by noting where presidents had retired after their terms:

Upon leaving office, George W. Bush returned to the seclusion of his 1,600-acre ranch 20 minutes out of tiny Crawford, Tex. -- itself two-and-a-half hours from Dallas-Forth Worth. Bill Clinton came to the White House via the Arkansas Governor's mansion and exited into a modest 11-room Neo-Dutch Colonial in exurban Chappaqua, N. Y. -- an hour's drive from Manhattan. Ronald Regan lived in Bel-Air (the Los Angeles suburb made famous by the Fresh Prince), Jimmy Carter on his peanut farm in Georgia, Gerald Ford in Virginia's wealthy Alexandria, LBJ in the Houston sticks.